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Hulu Appoints New CEO

Former Fox executive Mike Hopkins was named Thursday as chief executive of video-streaming service Hulu, as had been widely expected. Hopkins was previously president of distribution at Fox Networks, a division of 21st Century Fox. He is replacing interim chief executive Andy Forsell, who is leaving the Santa Monica company. Fox is a part owner of the service, along with Walt Disney Co. and NBCUniversal. The partners put Hulu on the market earlier this year, but the sale was called off and they instead decided to invest another $750 million to further its growth. Hopkins said he looks forward to building Hulu. “The team at Hulu has created a beloved user experience that feeds the undeniable need for quality, convenience and ease of use,” he said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to working with our creative partners, advertisers and distributors as we continue to build Hulu.” Hopkins is seen as a good choice because he has experience in negotiating with pay-TV services, and Hulu is seeking to beef up its online programing while also producing original content, according to a Bloomberg News article. Forssell has only been running the site since the January resignation of Jason Kilar, who was CEO since its founding in 2007. Kilar left after a long-running dispute with the site’s corporate owners over strategy, including the amount of advertising accompanying the shows. The site, which debuted with few ads, has been growing fast but has been a money loser. It added Hulu Plus, a premium subscription service in 2010. Hulu reported having more than four million Hulu Plus subscribers, who pay $7.99 a month, at the end of the first quarter, double the number it had in the same quarter a year earlier. It also said its free ad-supported service drew about 30 million monthly unique visitors.

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